American Studies/Shifting Gears brings together contributions by younger scholars from Germany and by renowned colleagues from both sides of the Atlantic. Taking the debate about the "Futures of American Studies" as its point of departure, the volume addresses three larger issues that are crucial to the present and the future positioning of the field: first, the internationalization of the American Studies scholarly community and of scholarly exchange as well as the transnationalization of the field's objects of study; second, interdisciplinary collaborations and transdisciplinary approaches and research; and third, the politics and politicalness of American Studies. "American Studies/Shifting Gears" leads the reader expertly and creatively through what's at stake for the discipline. In its reflections and analyses, the volume slows down at times, then speeds up a little, halts and finds a resting-point, drives down slopes and up steep inclines, and, in the process, shifts gears.